MESSAGE ABOUT THIS SITE

Sunday, September 30, 2007

9/11 is over – NY Times

Indeed, 9/11 is over, it is time to turn things around. The American Muslims have taken the initiative to turn 9/11 tragedy into a day of Unity called “Unity day USA."

On this Unity Day USA, we, the people of the United States of America; of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background, gather to pray for peace, prosperity, unity and security of our nation.

As Americans we uphold, protect, defend and celebrate the values enshrined in our constitution. All our faiths reinforce the creed of "One Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all."

Thomas Friedman is right on the money for a change when he says "...We are about 9/12; we are about the Fourth of July — ". Let me add, we are about leading the world through example of our democracy, of our respect for peace and our respect for human dignity and certainly not alienating and creating enemies around the globe".

Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:

“At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. ‘My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,’ said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. ‘As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.’ If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.”

Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don’t. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

Before 9/11, the world thought America’s slogan was: “Where anything is possible for anybody.” But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: “Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints.”

You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it’s a place we send visitors who don’t give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, told me that the United States has lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 — even though the dollar is weak and America is on sale. “Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume among major countries, which is unheard of in today’s world,” Mr. Dow said.

Total business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry’s recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that “the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America’s image abroad.” Those who don’t visit us, don’t know us.

I’d love to see us salvage something decent in Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a more progressive pathway. That was and is necessary to improve our security. But sometimes the necessary is impossible — and we just can’t keep chasing that rainbow this way.

Look at our infrastructure. It’s not just the bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly from Zurich’s ultramodern airport to La Guardia’s dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I still can’t get uninterrupted cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately called my wife in Bethesda — crystal clear.

I just attended the China clean car conference, where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 2008 cars will meet “Euro 4” — European Union — emissions standards. We used to be the gold standard. We aren’t anymore. Last July, Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver. That’s in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an open, welcoming place, with increased but invisible security, why can’t America?

We can’t afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.

1 comment:

It is heart aching to remember 9/11 victims, even more to blame the innocent for that.

Are we repenting?

Our President mentioned "I cry a lot"It means a lot to me. Is he sorry for those killed or is he sorry for the killings of those innocent human beings or is it just happening and he is not able to do any thing about it or ?

My Dream

I have a dream, a dream to strengthen the pluralistic values of America, and the desire to encourage the community of nations to review our values of Liberty, Justice and co-existence as catalysts for prosperity.

No community or a nation can have undue advantages over others. Such benefits are temporary and deleterious to lasting peace.

We have to maintain a healthy balance within our communities and with all nations, what is good for America, has got to be good for the world and vice versa.

SPEAKER, THINKER, WRITER

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker, writer, optimist, educator and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, India and Civil Societies. He manages the Foundation for Pluralism and World Muslim Congress and offers Pluralistic solutions to the media and the public on issues of the day.

He is available to speak at your school, university, work place, seminars or place of worship and interfaith gatherings.

He was a speaker and a moderator at the 2009 Parliament of Worlds Religions in Melbourne, Australia, and speaker at Universal Peace Federation's peace initiative in Jerusalem in August 2010

Mike is a conflict mitigater and a goodwill nurturer, all his work is reflected at three websites & twenty two Blogs listed at

http://www.mikeghouse.net/

INTERFAITH SPEAKER

It is my duty

It is my patriotic duty to speak up. Had each one of us spoken, we would not have sacrficed 3000 of our sons and daughters, and massacred a million Iraqi's. Unfortunately, we have to carry this burden on our conscience for the genocide we shamelessly watched and stood by. What are we going to tell our kids? That we were chickens and did not have the guts to speak up?

With the exception of Congressman Murtha and Barack Obama, the senate and the house were scared to death to speak up. Thanks God, November 7, 2006 gave us all new freedom. We need to elect people who are not afraid to speak up, they will be true patriots to our nation and to our values of freedom and democracy.

In my blog, I will be writing things reflective of our values of Justice, freedom and liberty.

Committment

Personally, I am committed to promoting goodwill amongst people, I believe knowledge leads to understanding, and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of a different point of view.

If we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Ray Bradbury "Until one is committed, there is hesitancy... Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.… Whatever you can do or dream that you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

and this "If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."

Mike Ghouse " Whatever you do in life, do it wholeheartedly, there is joy in it for every one around including ourselves"

Taking a principled stand

Please be aware that I will do my best to take a principled stand on Justice. Which simply means no matter who, what or where there is injustice, I will speak out.

Most of our policies are based on short sightedness, What is our gain? Who can we please and how can we remain in our power positions? Be it our President, Congressman, Senator or a public officer, I will speak out.

When it comes to other nations, if they are non-inclusive and mistreat any segment of their population, I will speak out.

I will defend the goodness of every religion, religion is the reason we have relative peace in the world, without which it will be chaotic. For the crimes of mankind, let's find the culprit and laser bark at him, and not his family, his race, his ethnicity or his religion.

I am a moderate Republican, and my first loyalty is to democracy before the blinding loyalty to my party. Obama is the right man in our history for our nation at this time and I have supported him all the way, the more I know about him, the more I feel he is the right man for the job.My thought process is similar to Obama's. In fact he has used the same words in his speeches that I wrote on my blog a week ahead of him.ISRAEL & PALESTINE

Thank God, I have no barriers between me and another human being.

Time permitting I want to see all points of view with an open mind, ultimately it is me or you, who is going to feel right or wrong about things and the pangs I will endure for realizing that I believed in the wrong thing.

No Imam, Rabbi, Pundit or Pastor is responsible for my actions and finding the truth is my own responsibility. Watching a Hamas movie does not make me a Hamas supporter or a Zionist movie would make me a Zionist supporter. We need to raise about such petty pegs.

My loyalty is to justice; and not to Israel or Palestine, which means support is based on issues and items and not wholesale blind support or un-support.

We do not have peace in Middleeast because of our loyalties to entities and not Justice. Every one wants peace, but they are not going about the right way.

Speaker and Writer

Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer and a Moderator.

He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India, Multiculturism, Terrorism, Peace, Politics and Civic issues. He co-chairs the center for interfaith inquiry of the Memnosyne Foundation and presides the Foundation for Pluralism. He is the president of World Muslim Congress a think tank with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world and vice-Versa.

His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Web sites and Blogs listed at his personal web site www.MikeGhouse.net . He has authored over 600 articles on Pluralism, interfaith, Islam, India and peace.

His life mission is to open people’s hearts and minds towards fellow beings by mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill. He is a peace maker and an educator with two Master degrees and working on his doctorate in Psychology. He has two books on the horizon ; Basic Islam- everything you want to know about Islam and Pluralism, a text book on Pluralism 101.

Mission

My civic Mission is to influence the policy makers of our country, to put our nation on the path of fairness, justice and equity in dealing with our domestic and foreign affairs. "Just" dealings have the power to take us, and the World into the next century with relative peace and prosperity.